Audit Reveals Missing Guns, Drugs and Money at Buncombe Sheriff's Department

This Source Verification Page documents a newspaper article reporting the results of a 2006 audit of the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department evidence storage and inventory system. The article describes significant deficiencies involving missing evidence, firearms, drugs, and currency, providing independent reporting relevant to the preservation and reliability of physical evidence discussed throughout Statement of Facts B.

Related SMAR Citation

["Audit reveals missing guns, drugs, and money at Buncombe County Sheriff's Department," Mountain Xpress, 6/7/07]

Source Name

Audit reveals missing guns, drugs and money at Buncombe Sheriff's Department

Author(s)

Cecil Bothwell

Publication

Mountain Xpress

Publication Date

June 7, 2007

Verification Source

Audit reveals missing guns, drugs and money at Buncombe Sheriff's Department

Source Location

Mountain Xpress

Highlighted Pages

1

Referenced in the Supplemental Motion

Page 16, Paragraph 21

Source Status

✔ Article obtained and reviewed.

✔ Relevant passages highlighted.

✔ Publicly available source

✔ Included within the Source Verification Archive

Cited to Support

Lyle C. May alleges that serious deficiencies existed within the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department evidence storage and inventory system during the time period of his 1997 Asheville, North Carolina case. The Mountain Xpress article is cited to document the results of a 2006 audit conducted during the transition between sheriffs, which reportedly found that a substantial percentage of evidence items were either missing, could not be located, or had been compromised. May relies upon this source to support his claim that the integrity of evidence maintained by Buncombe County law enforcement was subject to significant deficiencies, raising concerns regarding the preservation, accountability, and reliability of physical evidence relevant to criminal investigations and prosecutions.

Supporting Documents

Original Article

Link to the original article.

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Highlighted Research Copy

Working research copy containing the highlighted passages cited in the Supplemental Motion.

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